The linked PDF document (see below) is a <\/span>compilation of my recent series of Today\u2019s Contemplations subtitled \u2018We\u2019re Saved!\u2019. These essays were penned to challenge some common and unfortunately widespread beliefs regarding the ongoing attempts by our species to sustain\/expand our entirely unsustainable societal complexities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Collectively, they are what one might term a critique of \u2018techno-optimist solutions\u2019\u2013from hemp and nuclear power to green growth and \u2018good government\u2019\u2013that are marketed as \u2018fixes\u2019. These \u2018solutions\u2019 for \u2018problems\u2019 (e.g., carbon emissions) are marketed as \u2018clean\u2019 and \u2018sustainable\u2019 but mostly, if not entirely, ignore their own significant ecological impacts, the scale and complexity of the issue being addressed, and the non-negotiable conflict between humanity\u2019s pursuit of growth and its existence upon a finite planet with limited resources and fragile ecosystems.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After compiling these, I cannot help but come to the feeling that our species is currently adrift in a sea of uncertainty. As a result, we are grasping at each and every piece of flotsam passing by us, hoping one will provide the buoyancy to keep us afloat long enough to survive and reach dry land; but each and every one of these \u2018solutions\u2019 we hold onto fails to replace our dependence on the sinking ship; instead they add to our weight, causing us to sink just a wee bit deeper into the abyss.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As Erik Michaels states in the Introduction to the document: We\u2019re Saved! A Collection of \u2018Solution\u2019 Critiques, Volume 1. It ain\u2019t what you don\u2019t know that gets you into trouble. It\u2019s what you know for sure but just ain\u2019t so. For example, beliefs such as the idea that we can replace fossil fuels with \u2018clean\u2019 alternatives or that infinite growth is possible on a finite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,5,6,7],"tags":[34835,22093,32684,34848,34834,1535,34859,31469,7943,34874],"class_list":["post-69486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-energy-2","category-environment","category-geopolitics","category-liberty","category-survival-2","tag-bamboo","tag-ecological-overshoot","tag-fusion-energy","tag-good-government","tag-hemp","tag-hydrocarbons","tag-nuclear-renaissance","tag-predicaments","tag-solutions","tag-solutions-vs-predicaments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69488,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69486\/revisions\/69488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Keep-calm-tech-and-human-ingenuity.png\")
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\n<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Needless to say, most people refuse to see that these “problems” are actually not problems at all. They are predicaments. Predicaments don’t have solutions; they have outcomes – a big difference! As such, the mindsets that we get stuck in are, as [Steve] accurately points out, entirely maladaptive. If one notices that civilization itself is unsustainable, one will also see that anything that is a subset of civilization is likewise unsustainable. That which is unsustainable cannot be sustained and is actually precisely the cause of all these predicaments, most of which are actually symptoms of the master predicament, ecological overshoot, that we suffer from.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nWe\u2019re Saved! A Collection of \u2018Solution\u2019 Critiques, Volume 1.<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"